Meanwhile,
crawling out from the road Chinwan had beaten him into, the Ace of
Cards struggled to his feet, brushing off the dust and debris from
his long coat, fuming that he had allowed himself to be taken down by
some strange kid. Luckily, most of the boy's blows had been
cushioned by his many decks, which were now either dented or mangled
completely.

As his
hands patted down his body, he stopped and froze; something wasn't
right, he felt too light…something was missing!

"So,"
he grumbled darkly to himself, throwing his coat wide open for
inspection. "The little brats adds insult to injury, huh? Gods
help him if he took my Rumble Monsters deck! It took me
ages to build up a good one! Er..."

Pausing,
the Ace's eyes darted from side to side, just to make sure he was
alone before retrieving the aforementioned deck, sorting through it
in his hands. "Not that I play with them, of course!" he
added loudly to anything that may have been passing within earshot.
"They're just rare…and powerful…yeah, and…huh?! Where's
my blade shard?!"

Pressing
the top of his chest, the bandit was distraught not to feel the
familiar chill of the V shard around his neck. So that's
what the boy took, huh? Fancied himself as a little Bladehunter, did
he?

Fuming
even worse than before, the Ace took five angry steps away from Tayou
Town before an epiphany came to him, his narrowed eyes widening in
sudden realisation. Could it be? Could the hilt the pretty young girl
spoke of be none other than that of the legendary Jigsword?
And if the kid had that…

"He can
collect the whole sword!" the Ace squeaked excitedly, hopping from
foot-to-foot. "Great sweet potatoes, this is it! The Big Time! The
Jackpot! The chance I've been waiting for all my life! With
that sword in my possession, no one could stand in my way! I'd be –
Ace! Master of the Jigsword!" he caught himself in mid-rave,
eyes bulging as he glanced down to all the cards strapped to his
coat. "And King of Cards," he added hurriedly, as if his
cards had feelings he might have wounded. "HAH! I shall be
unstoppable! Why, I should catch up with those three suckers right
now and snatch the hilt this very moment! YEAH!!!"

Turning in
his stride back towards the town, the Ace paused as he noticed the
small white shape of the bird that had been with the two kids –
Aero, was it? – flying overhead towards him. "No," he
murmured, a crafty smile playing across his lips as he reached for
another of his larger cards. "I can't risk getting on the bad
side of that brat again. I might not survive another beating,
and my cards definitely won't! Hmm…I've got it!"

Tossing
the card high above his head, the young thief followed it with his
eyes, waiting until it was directly before the flying Pygmy Roc.
"Change of Heart – Teleport!" he ordered, activating the
magical item.

Hovering
in the air, the card began to emanate a pulsing white light towards
Aero, blinding the poor animal as it flew helplessly into it. Both
the card and the bird vanished in a flash of light, a second flash
reappearing them in the Ace's hands.

"Woooozy,"
murmured the small Roc, his eyes rolling before he managed to shake
himself back to his senses. "Oh, joy," he muttered darkly,
quickly struggling to break free as his sight focused on the man who
held him. "If it isn't McAce the Wonder Chump…what do you
want? I'm kinda busy…"

"What's
the rush?" asked the Ace, oozing charm. "And where are the other
two?"

"They've
been arrested and towed off to Kachin Prison….why?" Aero's
eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's it gotta do with you,
anyhow?"

"Well,
let's just say I've had a change of heart," the Ace replied
cheerfully, lying through his teeth. "I mean, sure it took a kid
beating the crud out of me to move me to change my ways, but I've
decided to do just that! I'm a changed man, now!"

"That's
a lot of changes," the small Roc drawled doubtfully. "Try
expanding your vocabulary sometime…and give me one good
reason why I should suddenly trust you? My wing's still sore from
where you clipped it!"

"Better
sore than broken in my hands," the 'reformed' thief
answered warningly, "oh, and I could've attacked you with another
card instead of teleporting you here. That's two reasons."

"And
very good ones they are, too!" Aero nodded enthusiastically.
Considering his options, the bird realised that not only was the Ace
of Cards closer to Chinwan and Sofi, but he would probably be more
useful when it came to busting the pair out of prison than Old Man
Gama, his original choice. "Hmmm…if you're telling me the truth
and really do want to help, then you could come with me, I
guess…interested in staging a prison break?"

"Sounds
perfect," the Ace answered eagerly and, as the Roc closed its
talons around his arms, lifting him into the air, he added silently:
Yes, real perfect…this is almost gonna be too easy! If
the others are this trusting after I free them, then the Jigsword is
as good as mine!

Operation
'Bust-out the Brat' is GO!!!

END OF
PART NINE

NEXT
TIME, IN 'CHINWAN!' – The breakout goes underway! Aero and
the Ace go in and stealth goes out the window! ALSO! The
Jigsword falls into the wrong hands!

A/N:
Yeah, short part this time, but that's mainly because Part Ten is
gonna be BIG! If anyone, and I mean anyone, wanted the Ace of
Cards to become a main character, then your wish is granted. For
those of you who didn't well, sorry, but this was planned
almost from the beginning.

On a
similar note, if you were hoping for Aero to reach Old Man Gama and
bring him back into the story, again, sorry, but who knows?
There's still time…

SympleSymon
(aka Stargazer)

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